From WBUR’s CommonHealth blog: how the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center worked with HEALing Communities Study to help members of the community, stop overdoses, and determine the best way to address a wave of fentanyl overdoses since the COVID pandemic started.
Brockton could become a model for what does, or doesn’t, work to save lives… when overdose deaths among Black people jumped 75% in the first year of the study, Brockton’s HEAL Coalition responded with lots more attention to stimulant drug users.
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center is at the forefront of outreach to help the Brockton community, bringing life-saving care and counseling right to the neighborhoods that need it the most.
[The BNHC] mobile clinic travels to seven sites a week — near parks, wooded areas and soup kitchens, based on overdose mapping. Allyson Pinkhover, director of substance use services at the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, says the trailer team tries to reach people most at risk for an overdose.
Even so, there’s more to do.
“They did everything possible to meet and move forward with the goal of increasing access to the treatment we know works and will make an impact,” says Redonna Chandler, who directs the HEALing Communities study, at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Read the full article: With fentanyl everywhere and Black deaths soaring, advocates in Brockton test ways to save lives – WBUR News.
Learn more about the Brockton Neighborhood Community Health Center mobile outreach unit.